Category Archives: civil

American 777 On the Nose

Widebody jets coming into SEA are hard to predict. If possible, all arriving traffic is sent to the outer runway to allow departures to proceed from the inner runway with little disruption. However, if there is a lot of arriving traffic, the wake turbulence requirements for spacing behind a heavy jet can slow the arrivals flow. In this case, sending the jets the inner runway is more efficient. You never know what it will be until the plane is lined up on approach and you can see whether it is offset from the normal paths or not.

I wasn’t terribly bothered by this American Airlines 777-200ER when it came in as it is a daily arrival from London, and I have shot it on previous occasions. However, since I was in a location almost on the centerline of its approach, I decided to go for more of a head on shot and then an underside shot. If this was something I hadn’t shot before, I would be aiming to get the side of the plane in shot to show whatever it was but, in this case, no harm in playing around with different angles.

Might As Well Wait For the Singapore 350

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I made a mourning trek to SEA one weekend to catch the Salmon Thirty Salmon jet before it got repainted. I shot a bunch of planes before it departed and one thing of interest after it left and was getting ready to head home. A quick check of what else was due out showed me that the Singapore Airlines A350-900 was due out shortly. It’s a nice-looking jet and the morning light was still good, so I figured there was no harm in waiting a short while longer to catch it.

Regular readers know I am partial to the A350 and some of my earliest shots of the type were operated by Singapore in to SFO when we lived in California. Their livery has a classic style to it in my mind. Besides, the trip to Singapore is a long one making full use of the A350’s range capabilities so it was likely to be heavy and would use a good chunk of the runway so would still be quite low as it passed me by. All good reasons to get the shot.

More To Love But Alaska Doesn’t Love These

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When Alaska bought Virgin America, they got an order for A321neos as part of the deal. When the merger was completed, Alaska painted some jets in their More To Love scheme to sell everyone on what the bigger airline had to offer. Two of the neos were painted in this livery. I have shot them both. Recently I caught one of them and it seems to have had a need for a replacement radome as the nose doesn’t go with the rest of the paint. Sadly, while there may have been more to love, Alaska doesn’t love these jets and they will be gone in October 2023, ending the use of Airbus jets in their fleet. They will then be “Proudly All Boeing” (and Embraer!).

Western Global is Back With the MD-11F

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I posted about the visit of Western Global and their 747-400F a little while back. They did not wait long for their next return and, this time, they went for a rarer type by bringing in the MD-11F. I know FedEx and UPS still have loads of these (although they are starting to retire them) but other operators are thin on the ground. This was worth catching. (I have since heard that Western Global is in liquidity difficulties so who knows if they will still be around soon.)

It arrived at Paine Field when I wasn’t able to be there, but it did depart in the morning when I was able to get to see it. The weather was not ideal, and I would have appreciated a little sun on it but I’ll take it in any conditions given that I don’t know when I might get another opportunity. What a cool looking jet the MD-11 is from the front quarters. When they are gone, we shall have lost something special.

Black Gulfstreams in the Rain

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Previous posts have shown that I like a bizjet that isn’t painted like all of the others and being painted black is even better. It won’t surprise regular readers, therefore, that when I got to see not one but two black Gulfstreams on one afternoon at Boeing Field, I was quite a happy chappy. The weather was not great, though. It was raining pretty steadily which doesn’t make for ideal conditions. However, it isn’t all bad. Sunny days with black jets can produce some harsh contrast conditions while overcast light is more even and soft so it might not be all bad.

Rain in the shots is still going to be an issue though. Depending on the shutter speed you choose, you may well end up with the raindrops being visible in the images. A bit of tweaking of the settings when processing can boost the contrast a little, but those raindrops are not disappearing. Still, the subject is an interesting one to me and that’s what counts.

Sabreliner Duo Passing Through

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The large exercise that was taking place in Alaska attracted a lot of unusual types and I have posted about the Hunters and the Northrop Grumman testbed heading up there already. They weren’t the only ones, though. Paine Field had a couple of transients too with a pair of Sabreliner jets heading north. This vintage bizjet is a pretty agile type and Clay Lacy used to display one on the air show circuit. These two had an interesting pod mounted under the front fuselage – presumably for some sort of electronic warfare role. I was able to head up to Paine Field that weekend to get them as they arrived. I didn’t have the time to get them departing although they weren’t around for long – just getting some fuel and then heading onwards.

They did route back through Paine Field when the exercise was done so I was able to get a second go at shooting them then but the conditions were much as before, so the shots are not too different. I did take a bit of a chance with my shots by dropping the shutter speed down pretty low to try and get some good motion blur – always a risk when shooting something new!

Sometimes Missing Sunset Is Not a Problem

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The last 747 to be built was conducting test flights from Everett in advance of being delivered to Atlas. It was due to get back from a test flight one evening and the timing looked good for a landing just before sunset. Along with plenty of other photographers, I headed up to Paine Field to await its return. As we tracked the flight, it was looking more and more like they would not get back before sunset. A few people decided that this wasn’t worth the wait and headed off. I figured I had made the effort so I was going to get a shot, even if the conditions weren’t any good. I was there, after all.

Sure enough, the sun went down while we waited and a little while later, the familiar shape of the 747 appeared in the distance. However, luck was going to be on my side this time around. While the sun had now set, the higher-level clouds off to the west were now being illuminated from below turning them a warm red color. The light from these clouds was now what was landing where we were and, as the 747 came down the approach, it had a warm and soft glow to it from the remnants of the day’s light. Far from being a disappointment, this was actually really attractive. What a lucky break for me and those that remained.

Lucky Encounters With NG’s Testbed

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This is a continuation of my string of good luck. I was back at Boeing Field awaiting the G700 movements. I had headed down to the south end of the field and was glancing at FlightRadar24 when I saw a CRJ700 on the display making a track that looked like it was coming to BFI. Normally, aircraft like that show up with a call sign/flight number rather than just as a CRJ. For some reason, I thought this might be an unusual CRJ and my mind jumped to the Northrop Grumman testbeds.

I had missed them once at BFI before when one took off while I was over at the museum. Having seen the BAC-111 testbed many years ago, I wanted to catch this one. I decided to try and get to the other end to see what it was just in case. The road along the airfield is not well suited to swift travel but I was patient as I figured there was just enough time. I made it to the other end and grabbed the camera quickly. Barely any time passed and then there it was. It was indeed one of the NG testbeds. Result!

I hung out for a while before deciding to head back to the other end. Nothing interesting was due in so I figured I’d see what was departing. When I got back, I pulled up FR24 just to see what was moving on the field and, lo and behold, the CRJ was up at the hold, ready to go. Rapidly out of the car, grab camera and, just as I am ready, here it comes. This was a continuation of my string of good luck. It’s all going well. Then I see that some Sabreliners are heading north. The streak continues!

Another Janet in Town

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The Janet 737s go to ATS on Paine Field for maintenance when required. I should, therefore, see them more often but I usually don’t know anything about it until they are gone. Consequently, when I caught one this time, it was purely by chance. Luck is to be embraced, of course. Another Janet might seem a little repetitive, but I don’t care.

Air Tanzania Cargo 767F At Last

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Air Tanzania Cargo placed an order for a 767-300F and it recently came off the line at Everett. I saw various shots of it from local photographers, but it never flew when I was able to shoot it – i.e., when I wasn’t at work. When I did get up to Paine Field, it had been parked off at the back of the ramp and didn’t look like it was going anywhere soon. Then, I saw that it had become active again. I figured that meant it would be delivered soon. Fortunately, one of the flights was during an afternoon and it was due back late in the day – after work! I was able to get up to Paine Field after leaving the office and be there for the return. Just as well I did as it got delivered shortly afterwards.